Sengoku Horizon

Look towards the Horizon

The Warring States Period: Fierce warlords fought for control of Japan, and many would perish. When a warrior falls, where does the passion they once held go? Possibly into something dear such as a favorite weapon or heirloom. These heirlooms have been labeled as “relics”, and those that carry them are labeled as “Scions." Recently more and more of these special relics have been activating, signaling the start of a great change as ancient power meets the modern world!

The door to the arena opened and in stepped a new occupant, who looked around and sighed wiith something approaching content and ease. It'd been a while since she was here, but she was ready now. Makoto Shiyo had been subject to earthquake and loss, coma and awakening (in more ways than one), and then shock and aftermath, and now she was bouncing back. It'd taken effort, but at last she felt like she was back on track.

For one, the brown-haired glasses girl had begun track-running. She was in a sporty green-and-blue one right now, in fact. For another, she'd resumed her cavelry training, and boy was it good. There was something thrilling in the modifications to her Relic, plus the new horse she got. It made her feel like she had truly come back from the dead and definitely wanted to be alive! All of this was in effort to what was to take place today.

During an...unfortunate visit to the Headmaster's office, Makoto had made a friend. Full name: Rakuyama Buru, but she preferred to be called Bu. She was shorter than her, but definitely tougher, in ways. Bu could armor herself up like she was made of thick stone. She was a shield to Makoto's lance, or rather her yari. Really, this association was perfect. One was very durable, extremely durable. The other was all about attack.

What association was that? Only some really intense battle training, that's all. It had been a cinch to set up, once Makoto got the idea. Bu needed money, but all the methods at her disposal were either distasteful or downright pitiful. Makoto wouldn't mind working for a living. Apparently, her friend Roshi did all kinds of things to get 'paid favors' when he worked on stuff. For Bu, this was fairly similar. She and her fight it out, and Bu gets money for that custom motorcycle she's been after.

There were only two things that had been required. First, she had to clear it with the Maeda expenses manager. No problem. Bu was a 'personal trainer'. The best kind, in fact. She was a Scion who could not be destroyed...which actually led to the second thing. You see...Bu wanted a real fight, not mere training. That's why this would be using her own Bishamon-style Yari, not her tonfas.

Bu wants to be hurt. She might not [i]get hurt, given her abilities, but it's what she wants to make it more real, so I guess I'll give it to her. Heh... Good thing this arena's flame-proof.[/i]

Oh yeah. Let's not forget that Makoto's abilities, being wholey destructive in nature, were a fire hazard just by switch on... Still, she opened a water bottle and drank from it, waiting. Bu was sent an email with a time and a place, and she said she'd be here, so very soon now...she should be coming.

When Bu got the text, she felt the excitement building up inside. It had been a lucky break to find somebody willing to fight her, at least, somebody willing to fight her who would be both a challenge and would do it multiple times. Actually, multiple times was the key thing there, even more than a challenge. She was running out of people to fight with during school training even when she wasn't using her artifact. But Makoto had been willing to give it a go, even to pay her for it.

Well, getting paid made this like a job but Bu had resolved to be more comfortable about the j word. It had been Makoto who had convinced her to actually look for work. Money was important and Bu really did want that bike. Sacrifices had to be made. But the question now was, what did you wear to a training job? The school uniform sucked, even the school fighting uniform was a pain. But then, her normal stuff wasn't appropriate for fighting in either, even if that's normally what she was wearing during a fight. She didn't want to go to the school lockers to get her gym clothes either.

"Hey," Bu waved as she jogged up to Makoto. She had finally decided on blue spandex leggings and a tight pink crop tank which were currently hidden beneath faded grey sweat pants and a hoodie. She came up short to the side of the fighting area and dropped a small duffel bag that she had brought to hold any extra equipment she thought she might need. After all, this was her first time training somebody else and who knew what kinds of things would be required.

"Good to see you, Shiyo. Ready to do some damage?" She asked with a smile. Bu really was looking forward to this. The last time she'd gone all out with a scion, he'd bailed and she was left feeling incredibly unpleasant. It was time to replace that memory and make sure something like that never happened again. "That thing your artifact?" She said, pointing at the yari. "Because Ah don't mind if it is but you'll want to pad it up." She began to strip off the hoodie and sweats.

"If it isn't, maybe you should get a practice one you're willing to break against me." Bu was not afraid of getting hurt, well, not totally, a properly sharp weapon, especially an artifact, might be what it took to get through her defenses and do real damage. She wasn't totally invulnerable, after all. But the real issue was that blades were sharp and edges were brittle. There was a reason you mined with a pick rather than a sword. "Ain't one to boast," she lied, "but hitting me is like hitting a stone wall sometimes."

It didn't take long for the blonde fighter/ex-ganger to appear. She looked anxious, eager for this thing. And if we're honest, Makoto was looking forward to it, as well. Getting back into the thrill of it and having an opponent who could take it was the stroke of luck she really felt she needed, after so much of the bad. She gave Bu a casual wave with her free hand as she came in, going "Mmm-hmmm" with a smirk to the question of doing damage. That said...

"That's the one. Bunkatsu Kami Yari. But I can't pad it for two reasons."

We should point out that Makoto's the one who named it, as well as its attacks. Having an interest in art and performance gives her a flair for the dramatics. Still, she was right about her situation about padding.

"The first thing is that if I use any of the special moves on this thing, it'll just burn through the padding. Even without 'em, this is a sharp and heavy weapon, so a good impact will tear right through it anyway."

Relics, man... They're the real deal.

"The other problem is this..."

She took up the weapon, and then pulled it into two lighter ones! The thick main spearhead divided and each one now had a crescent blade to its name. The whole thing had been seamless until that moment. Makoto actually gave them a twirl to show that she had proper control of the two shafts. They began to let off an eerie howl with the motion.

"Padding will limit the fighting style I've been working on. 'Till now, I've been practicing my dual-wielding with tonfas. If you're saying I should pick up a pair of replacement spears, I'm game, but eventually it should come down to the use of my Relic. It'll be much tougher than the practice weapons. The previous owner was...pretty brutal."

Anyway, that's the way it was. Makoto put the spear back together and leaned it once more against a wall, waiting on Bu's opinion of the matter. Relic could be damaged or broken, it was true, but this one delivered punishment, so it could probably take it, as well.

Well, that was, not disappointing, actually it was pretty exciting. "That's pretty awesome." she said as the single blade split into two. But it did pose a problem. She finished stripping down and tossed her clothes on top of the bag. She didn't want to break the weapon, or chip it, or do any of that. But then, it was an artifact, that made it stronger than a normal yari so maybe it would just go right through her like butter.

Questions questions, well, you would never find the answers if you didn't test out some of the results. She bent down and dug a few bandages out of her bag and set them on top as well. Keeping one in her hand, she walked over to Makoto. "We may have to figure something out." she said, "Ask a teacher or something but for now, let's see what works." She held out her hand, "Ah'd like to do a little test on the edge."

"See, school tries to teach you how to fight with your powers but every scion is different, doncha know. And there's only so much you can learn fighting a dummy." Or a living dummy as the case may be. "I think we really want to push ourselves, right? Learn how to use your powers easier and in a real fight."

Primarily though, this was helping Makoto get practice in. Which is why she didn't include herself. After all, most of her fighting style involved literally pinning the enemy to the ground and then smothering them to death or just bashing their heads in. She nodded as Makoto handed her one of the blades and turned the edge inwards. It looked very sharp, good.

She flexed her left arm a few times and then held it rigid as she brought the blade against her upper shoulder. She ran the edge slowly along her bare flesh. Nothing came of it. She breathed out slowly. "Ok." Then she did it again, harder, and again, harder. Finally, after a fair amount of pressure, a thin red line trailed along and blood began to form in droplets along it.

"Hokay," she said with a slow exhale and held the spear back out to Makoto. She slapped the bandage on her shoulder. "So that's a pretty good indicator that you can probably gash me up pretty good if I'm not careful." She smiled. "Not gonna bother testing the stone, don't think you'll manage that one." She rubbed at the spot on her arm. "What else can you do with those things, I think you said fire?"

The likes of Maeda Toshiie, head of the Toshiie family and both general and friend to Oda Nobunaga, would never settle for anything less than an awesomely brutal weapon. Honestly, for such a thing to fall into the kinder hands of Makoto was nothing short of surprising. But then, life had made her a different person, here and there.

Still, like the girl said, they may have to work something out here. Makoto nodded her agreement. Either they'd have to find a way around this, or they'd have to go full steam and hope for best. The particular needs of the glasses girl DID make this complex, so...whatcha' got? Well, a little test, for one. Yeah, a teacher might need to be asked about this, but they were smart people here. Err...well... Okay, they'd manage.

Bu wanted to test out Makoto's weapon in a controlled manner, stating that you could only learn so much from the attack dummies. True. The most that she had learned from attack dummies after having used it on real people was that dummies burn faster and slash apart easier. Handing one half of her weapon to the other girl, she now waited to see what kind of a test this was. Of her own endurance? How it faired on her skin?

As it turns out, Bu was durable to a point with her own skin, even without turning to a walking stone. She only started to draw blood after the first couple tries, which was surprising. After all, the blade was cared for. The half-of-the-weapon was soon returned, and she pointed out that the stone skin probably couldn't be penetrated by it, so don't try. Then, she asked about the power.

"Yeah, I've pretty much got fire and extra harm down to a T. Primary special attack is extremely hot and burning, so way more penetrating too. Things after that get more...explosive and fire-hazard-y. I'm glad that this area's completely fire-proof. Oh, and umm...getting me hurt literally makes me stronger when I attack."

It was primarily why it was all just a bit easy when she was defending the hospital entrance. All her limbs were still sore and screaming from the effort. It was only because she'd also been weak from recovery that she hadn't split a man in two from her injuries.

Good to know, and she was willing to admit it. "Actually, if it can explode, then you might be able to get through my rock skin. At the very least you could knock off a few chunks of my armor. Ah've had to repair cracks before and that's pretty quick but I din't know how I might handle chunks." She looked at her arms and imagined it. Then she stoned up which flowed down from her fingertips to her elbows in a moment.

She slapped her arms together which made a loud crunching sound of stone hitting stone. "Fire's good too. I know fire can hurt me, but how much is still up for debate, I've gotten tougher since I got my burns and that was a pretty significant fireball the ninja dropped on me." Her skin did well enough against weapons, but fire was a whole different kind of damage. That said, if she did turn out to be really resistant to it, hey, maybe a new way to get rid of unwanted hair quickly.

The last detail was a bit worrying. Bu didn't have to be told that her method of fighting was unhealthy. She knew it, but she also had a lot of faith in her defensive powers. Somebody who got stronger when hurt...well...they'd just have to see how that turned out. "Do you need to be wielding the weapon for that stuff or can you get away with just carrying it?" If she didn't have to wield it, they could practice her fire control.powers so that she didn't set any more store shops on fire. Control was important, almost as important as being able to let loose.

"Alright, Ah guess we should get started with some stretches." Bu began doing some basic stretches, not really instructing or advising, just trying to limber herself up before the fight. She didn't want to pull anything, especially since she'd discovered that pulling a muscle was still a valid way to hurt herself without achieving anything. Not fun at all.

But it felt weird to just stretch in silence with just the two of them there. Bu felt compelled to push the conversation along. "So, Ah was thinking about what you said in the office and you're right about the job thing." Credit where it was due, after all. She definitely wouldn't have gone looking if Makoto hadn't pushed her in that direction.

Yeah, explosions hhad a way of busting through things. That said, maybe the Relic was also more durable against damage to withstand that kind of force. Who knows? You could never really tell, sometimes. That wasn't important, though. They weren't here to show each other up. A bit of friendly showmanship might happen, but this was all about self-improvement. Hell, Bu had self-improved after the last burn she had.

As for the use of her weapon...

"I'm pretty sure the active attacks are gonna happen when I think at it, regardless of whether or not I come in swinging and stabbing. It can make it come into existance, and I can put it away without it having to explode. It goes off where I intended it to. So, it'll do it if I hit OR miss."

In short, she had control enough to think where to boom, or to stop from booming if the fight's suddenly been canceled, say. The attack might expire, still, but that was something of a minor issue. It's better that than looking for somewhere to get rid of a bomb. So, before they got into any of it, some stretches. Makoto had already had some stretches, essentially, as she had exercised before coming in. Still, she had nothing wrong with it, and went to limber up as Bu made conversation.

"I thought you might think that, though I did kinda' push this option because I can understand one's own passions. There are things that one loves or takes pride in more than money can buy. I figured I'd try and respect that, but I didn't want to leave you without a means to work on that passion."

"Not exactly what Ah meant." Bu said as she started doing squats. "Like, if it was strapped to your back, could you use its powers? Even with a practice weapon or nothing in your hands at all?" She stopped stretching and tapped the back of her hair. "Ah just have to be touching mine, but even wrapped Ah n my hair, Ah can take advantage of it. But then, mine's a comb, not a weapon, doncha know."

Bu resumed her stretches. "I think I'd like to practice your control of the fire stuff as well, it's no use to anyone if you destroy your enemies and whatever you're defending from them." Or herself, but Bu wasn't sure about Makoto's self destructive tendencies or if the girl even had them. A visit to the hospital didn't mean much.

God, there were so many things she wanted to get out with this girl, so many things to train. No wonder teachers were so preoccupied and dull. They had a lot to think about. Well, at least this would be temporary and then actual fighting would be the general and immediate training.

"Yeah, Ah admit, got some issues with my pride. But Ah thought Ah'd try to look past that." She knelt down and began stretching her back. "So now Ah'm working for some group of guys doing voices for some video game." She shrugged. "Like Ah told you, haven't got much AH'm good at but Ah've got my body and, one Ah shoved a few hang ups away, my voice."

She had been curious about what sort of Relic that Bu's was, in fact, so to hear that it was a comb was actually kind of surprising. True, there was nothing in the world that said it had to be a weapon, but ye of the Fourth Wall will agree that it is quite common. Still, what the blonde wanted to know was if her powers worked only when it was in hand or even when it was around.

"Oh sure, I think it'll work out of my hands...but I think all of my attacks will shoot from the head of the spear, regardless. If it's possible for Scions to project it from a practice weapon without immediately destroying said weapon, that's something I'll have to work on. The 'getting stronger as I hurt' thing, however, will be all the time, no question."

As her primary passive ability, it would just be engrained within her to become more powerful while injured until such time as the Relic outright broke...maybe. Relics could be repaired as much as they could be broken, so it's really hard to say how much the magic remains in the person if it's just the background stuff. Bu was right, of course, about somehow reining in her fire power. Makoto had mitigated disaster by not activating powers indoors, but if there was a way to gain further control, it would be alot easier for her in the long run. Before they got down to brass tacks, though, Bu mentioned voice-acting...

"Really? Well, you've got a unique accent going for you. I can't really place it. Where are you from? I'm actually local here, myself. My parents move into the area some years before I was born."

There was something in her voice, a slight quietness, when she got down to talking of her parents. She picked up some energy afterwards, then, and continued on.

"Anyway, I'd love to get some fire control. I mentioned the hospital I was protecting, right? It was a real embarrassment. The only Scion on-site and my ssecondary attack shoots out this four-foot flame from the head as a by-product of the power its calling on. I could set my enemies on fire without actually doing the attack!"

Bu reached up behind her head and lifted her hair with one hand as the other removed the comb which fell away in a stream of sand. She held up the jade comb. "Yeah, Ah guess you hang out with more of the fighting scions with relatives who fought and stuff." She slipped it back into her hair and felt the stone slab grow around her scalp before she let her hair drop back down.

"So my stuff grows around my hands, and when Ah go for covering my bottom half, it actually draws stone directly from the ground Ah'm standing on. Not really good for the street but whatever." If she had to go immobile, there were bigger worries than some street repairs. At least, bigger worries for her immediate well being, she rarely worried about the repair costs of anything she damaged in a fight.

"What Ah'm saying is, powers work differently for anyone and everyone. Maybe it always comes from your spear, but maybe it can come from anything you point, relic, basic spear, knife, finger. These are the kinds of things I want to find out." You had to push the limits of your powers to unlock their true potential. After so many fights and incidents, she was tougher than before. She wanted to go further, see how durable she really was.

Bu got back to stretches, show and tell done for now. "East Tanagura, little mountain town with nothing to do but ride bikes and karaoke." And not much opportunity to escape either, probably most of her old gang who didn't end up locked up would become farmers and small businessfolk like their parents. She switched to Kansai-ben, mostly Osakan. ""But they aren't interested in my every day accent. I had a lot of practice with voice stuff when I was younger."

Then Bu dropped into a fairly standard accent with a formal tone. "If the lady is so worried about damage, then perhaps she might desire to carry around extra weaponry in case the need arises for fireless combat. I might suggest checking out the options the school could provide at some time this next week." She stuck her tongue out, that one was a pain, basically everything that got on her nerves so she stopped doing accents at all. "Ah had to do a lot of experimenting to find something popular, turns out, wasn't a waste after all and Ah can get some extra cash just saying stuff."

She didn't personally know that many Scions at all, really. Not as in talking to them much outside of class. But even still, yes, alot of them tended to be the outright fighter types. Anyway, what she was pointing out was that Relics DO get a biit flexible about how their powers work and that they could have the potential to project into another weapon...if it was on-hand or at least close by. That was definitely worth looking into, whether they trained her into it here or not.

That was on the table, but for the moment, back to the voice-acting. Apparently, Bu didn't mean her everyday voice. She had some talent in changing it and worked with it. Makoto had never been to her area, obviously, but the little mountain karaoke town could certainly appeal to some. Maybe more Roshi Bento than herself, he who had a killer voice and performing talent. Speaking of which...Bu's immediate change of voice surprised her to the point of freezing in mid-stretch to stare for a moment. She almost missed the fact that she was advising her about keeping spare weapons.

"Bu, that was really good. And...you're probably right. I've been sticking myself to the Relic so much because of all the effort that was put into making me a Scion. That and everything else... I dunno. Does it seem a might bit obsessive?"

Some part of her knew that it was, but she wanted to know how out-of-control it might be, and she figured that the tough-as-nails biker-ganger girl would probably tell her if it seemed weird. Maybe she'd have to know the story first. Only if she wanted to know, though. Makoto recalled saying she would explain, if necessary.

"It'd be better if those were the voices Ah was using." she said with a less than pleased tone. "But it's something and it's not like real work and the people are good enough so Ah'll live with it." She stood up straight and put her hands on her hips. That was probably enough stretching for now. "Might be, I don't know. Don't know what makes a person a scion in the first place. I just picked up a comb after Ah got arrested."

She looked at Makoto and considered the girl, what were they going to focus on first, well, if the girl got stronger when hurt, maybe they should get a little bit of a burn going on. "But Ah'm hardly the kind of person who can judge other people on being obsessive." She scratched her ear and frowned. "But there is a step too far. If you work exclusively with your magic stuff then you might start relying too much on it. My power generally prevents me from being disarmed but yours doesn't seem that way."

Bu shook her head. "It's like that Kitsu guy. He's got his gun but Ah don't think he'd be nearly so big without it." She held up her hands and shrugged with a smile. "He'd probably try but whatever. And it's true for a lot of the people you might end up fighting. They pick up a weapon and feel all big and powerful. Take it away and they haven't got much left. We don't want you to become over reliant on your artifact."

"But," she added, "we also want to push you and your artifact as far as we can to draw out both of your true potential. If you aren't using your artifact, then there's no point in being a scion in the first place." She folded her arms and stepped out into the open area. "So, first thing today, put your spear by my bag, you're gonna have a little spar, get the blood pumping, get the muscles burning, build up that power you have brimming inside you." Bu had a plan, maybe it showed on her face because she had a bit of a smirk. There was another test here. "Ah'm not going to be going all out, but Ah'll fight back some. That's why Ah'm keeping my artifact on. Think of it like fighting a wooden dummy that occasionally hits you back."

Maybe Bu wasn't the right person to ask, then. She figured that someone who was an ex-ganger might have some insight on the subject of unhealthy vices, but maybe it wasn't all that bad a gang. That said, the girl had a point or two on the subject of reliance, and got Makoto to smirk at the mention of their mutual punching bag, Kitsu.

"I can assure you, he'd be pretty helpless without it. I actually tried disarming him, but it seems like he's got a deathgrip on that thing."

The guy from the Iga Clan carried actual weapons, but it was his gun that had the most impact, literally. Without that siingularly-deadly weapon, Makoto felt that his ability to fight would be cut to less than half. This was one of the reasons that Makoto's training weapon had been tonfas. Apart from the use it had in duel-wielding, it was something to keep her versatile and adaptable.

For now, that was apparently going to be put to the test. She was going to put away that ancient weapon and fight Bu in hand-to-hand combat. Now, Makoto wasn't a master of unarmed combat or a street fighter like Bu obviously was, but her tonfa training helped her through this, as they were defensive weapons you used in conjection with martial arts. In short, she'd be okay. So, she did as she was asked, and got started.

"You don't seem like a dummy. Maybe a little stubborn, but come on, who isn't?"

Maybe not the best time for jokes, Makoto. Not the worst time, but uhh...could be better. Whatever. At any rate, she was already prepared for even this, being in a track suit. They're covering and they breathe. Now then, her actual style when unarmed was that of swift strikes and swings. She didn't have exactly fluid grace, but she had speed and reaction. Makoto's opening move was a one-two fist-strike that she fully anticipated to be blocked or even endured like they were nothing...which is why the real focus was in her right leg, trying to sweep the legs out from under Bu.

There was something fun talking about the jerk of a gangster. Bu didn't quite consider him a wannabe, he'd obviously graduated past that but he wasn't anyone she really cared for as a threat. He was just another boy in a world of boys and it was great sharing the sentiment with somebody who also seemed to understand or, at the very least, share the casual disdain.

As for the fight, Bu was trying to stay serious because she was supposed to be the teacher here. Sort of teacher, guide maybe? Either way, she couldn't lapse into her normal way of throwing down and she couldn't just play everything off like a joke. Still, she smirked at the insult turn around. That was funny but funny was not the goal. "Ok, comedian, hit me."

Bu wasn't the sort for bowing or shaking hands or any of that polite battle stuff, she liked to just start, and Makoto was just the kind of person to do that. The first blows weren't really anything noteworthy. Bu hadn't expected them to be. She wasn't fighitng here, after all, just trying to get a feel for the other girl. Since she wasn't preoccupied with dodging or blocking, she had been watching all of Makoto and saw the leg coming. Tricky.

Bu shifted her leg and took the strike directly in the shin. She kept her balance easily, absorbing the kick which would have had a normal person on the floor, or if the normal person had taken the kick like that, on the floor and crippled. "Good, good. Don't hit too hard and break your fingers or ankle." she said as she took a few hits and parried others with mostly basic blocks.

This was the first part of the real test, the one that Bu didn't ask about since Makoto probably wouldn't have answered truthfully. Be it because she was hiding it or because she hadn't realized. Would she start punching harder?

Bu thought she knew herself pretty well. She had come to rely on her artifact as a substitute for actual skill. She'd figured that out when fighting that foreign kid, Ash. Rather than actually try to improve, she'd just started wearing the artifact everywhere and all the time. It was a bad move but she had always been on the lazy side and looking for a cheap, quick, easy path to success. That's what had screwed up her life before.

Bu figured Makoto deserved better than that, not to rely on the artifact. But, if she had been raised into being a scion with these powers, trading pain for strength, that was something they might have to get past too. Easiest way to tell was if even while not using her artifact, she punched harder on instinct. Not perfect, but a start.

Bu smiled as she blocked or took the next few attacks as they came, it was time for part two of the test. She began to strike back. Not all that hard, certainly not with the ferocity she normally fought with. Just a few jabs, hooks, and the odd elbow and knee thrown in as a response to Makoto's attacks.

She tensed up a bit as her leg struck the other girl's leg and didn't feel it give. It was the strangest feeling, like kicking a wall or a statue. She had to remember that this was a spar, not a battle. Even still, she'd wanted to see if Bu could be tripped up, at all. Answer: Not if she's aware of it, she isn't. It stood to reason that Bu would be great at defending herself, given her powers. You learn stuff that revolves around your strengths. That's just how it is.

Because Makoto had a tendency to not want to get taken off-guard herself, her own movements were quick so she wouldn't get her limbs locked up easily. Her opponent here could probably lock her up something fierce with a vice-grip. She had some control over how much strength was used...mostly because she who buries the head of her spear in the ground must pull it out again or get trashed.

What she seemed to favor over strength was leverage, forcing an opponent into a standstill or critical error. This was not something she could do with Bu, per se, but her punches and kicks were made as precision surgery, not wild aggression. This became clear as Bu started unexpectedly fighting back and Makoto flinched away or tried parrying in a manner that turned the punch aside, not directly blocking. She respected the force that was behind the blonde. She shied away from it. This was because Makoto had NOT been using her Scion powers for long, and that she considered herself more of a glass cannon than anything.

There was...one thing she thought she'd try, though. She wondered if Bu had made herself heavier at all. During one of her incoming hits, Makoto tried to grab and flip her by the arm and the force of her momentum. It wasn't something she was especially good at, but if you can Judo Flip someone in combat, they're on the ground and you have them.